Shadowfever
Page 20

For Jayne and his Guardians.
Dont know how Ro managed to make em all scared of their shadows again, but she did. Little things she says make em doubt themselves. Only took her two weeks after Mac disappeared to convince em all Mac was dead and to give up on her.
Sheep, I tell ya! Takes everything I got not to stand up, waggle my ass, and yell: Baaaaa!
But I guess the sheep shits too deep in here for me to move, cause I sit and chew on my pen and wait for inspiration.
While Im biding time, I watch Jo. Used to be friends with her. Thought she had a mind of her own. Shes smart, real smart. Puts things together the other sheep dont.
But she got weird a few months back. Started hanging all the time with Barb and Liz and never had time for me anymore. Used to be she was the only one didnt treat me like a baby. Used to be they all treated me like a kid. Now they hardly treat me at all. Nobody sits at my table.
Good feckin thing, too! Aint no room for sheep at my table.
Jos sittin real quiet, watching Liz. Watching her hard.
I wonder if she turned lezbo or somethin and that explains why she changed. Came out of her closet and moved on, maybe got herself a mnage twat with Liz and Barb. I snicker at my joke. Dude, if ya cant crack yourself up, aint never gonna crack anybody else up.
At first, the gunshots are so faint that even my superhearing dont register what they are. Then, when I do, I sorta figure Barrons dudes musta come back for some reason and, like last time, theyre firing warning shots. Even though we got a shitload of Uzis and other guns, we got no use for em here. Only in Dublin. They dont work on Shades. We dont bring our guns into the abbey. We leave em on the bus.
Dawning on me quick now how stupid that is.
Later, I find out it started at the west end of the abbey. Started where Mac slept when she stayed here, where I been sleeping lately, in the Dragon Ladys Library.
When the screaming begins, I freeze-frame into motion but with caution: Automatic gunfire is something I gotta factor in to my superspeed equation.
Im fast, but, dude, the rat-a-tat-tat of that kinda spray is feckin fast, too. Tough to dodge. And what Im hearing is constant.
Im in one of the corridors, heading for the screams, but suddenly everything is as dark as it must be where Rowenas head isstraight up her ass. I snicker again. Im cracking myself up tonight.
I stop, plaster against the wall, and start moving like a Joe. Watching, straining to see down the dark corridor. I aint got my Halo, but I got a couple flashlights in my pockets. I pull one out, click it on.
We aint never got all the Shades outta the abbey. Nobody puts on their boots without shining flashlights in em and shaking em out real good first. And then only in broad daylight.
Nobodybut nobodywalks down dark halls here.
So whys it dark and who the feck is doing all that shooting?
Lots of moaning. Lots of wounded. Aint warning shots. This is the real deal.
I take a Joe step forward, quiet as I can. Glass crunches beneath my high-tops, and I know why its dark. Shooter took out the lights.
I hear a soft, awful laugh that makes my blood run cold. I shine my flashlight down the dark hall, and the darkness kinda absorbs it.
I hear somebody breathing fast.
I hear more glass crunching and it aint me.
Pretty sure the shooters headed straight for me!
I flex my fingers, curl em tight around my sword. Ro tried to take it away. Told her Id be her own personal guard if she let me keep it. I stand watch while she sleeps. Im learning about tradeoffs.
What the feck is moving down the hall at me?
Later, when I tell the story, I dont tell the whole truth.
Truth is, the unthinkable happened. I got scared in that dark hall. I felt something coming and it freaked me.
I say I never got to the corridor.
Never admit I backed out with my tail tucked between my legs, retreated to the light, and then freeze-framed back to the dining hall.
The shooting starts again and so does the screaming and we all run, but theres only one way out and thats the way in, so were knocking over tables and scrambling behind em.
Jo and me, we end up behind the same table. Long as she doesnt try any funky lezbo stuff on me, I dont mind sharing my spot. I tap the table. Its thick, made of solid wood. Might hold up, depending on bullets and distance.
More screams. I wanna hold my ears.
Im cowering. I disgust myself.
I gotta look. I gotta know what the feck is doing this to us!
Jo and I move for opposite ends of the table at the same time and crack heads. She glares at me.
Like its my fault, I hiss defensively. You moved, too.
Wheres Liz? she hisses back.
I shrug. On my hands and knees, I waggle my ass. Whole abbeys falling apart and shes worried about her little girlfriend. Baaaaa, I say.
She looks at me like Im nuts. Then were both poking our heads around the table.
Bullets are ripping across the room, ricocheting off walls and wood. Bloods spraying everywhere, gory as feck, and the screams keep coming. The shooter is framed in the door of the dining hall.
Jo gasps and I just about fall over choking.
Its Barb!
What the fecks this all about?
Shes draped in rounds, toting the biggest Uzi I ever seen. White-faced, shes screaming curses at us, taking us down like sitting ducks. I gape. Barb? I mutter. Dont make no sense.